


Back at the Beginning

by nesselberry



Series: In Another Universe [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward, Fluff, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Isaac Lahey, Minor Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura, Pining, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 15:07:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8583055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nesselberry/pseuds/nesselberry
Summary: "Heaving a sigh Derek grabs his jacket, he probably needs to take a bit of a break anyway. He grabs his wallet and keys and slips his shoes on before heading out the door. As he turns from locking it he notices someone laying in the hall curled up under a blanket. As he steps closer he realizes it’s his cute neighbour, the sophomore studying childhood psychology.His name is Stiles, and Derek only knows that because his roommate, Isaac, is friends with Stiles’ roommate, Scott, and they’ve run into each other a couple times. Not to mention for a whole semester Derek tried to time leaving his dorm to the same time as Stiles just so they could share a sleepy “good-morning” before parting ways for their different classes."
Classic found you sleeping in the hallway cause you were sexiled by your roommate trope





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'd and smushed together in like a couple hours. Please enjoy

Derek is finishing off a paragraph for his essay when he reaches into his bag of chips only to find that they’re empty. He sighs and finishes his sentence before checking the time. 2am. He’s still got seven hours to finish writing it. He can do this. Not without chips though. He stands, cracking his back as he goes. He walks to the kitchenette in his room and grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. Taking a swig, he checks the cupboard and groans. That was his last bag. He’s only got 500 words to go but he needs something to munch on to keep him up and focused.

He pulls google up on his phone and checks the location of the nearest convenience store, it’s only a five-minute walk away. Heaving a sigh Derek grabs his jacket, he probably needs to take a bit of a break anyway. He grabs his wallet and keys and slips his shoes on before heading out the door. As he turns from locking it he notices someone laying in the hall curled up under a blanket. As he steps closer he realizes it’s his cute neighbour, the sophomore studying childhood psychology. His name is Stiles, and Derek only knows that because his roommate, Isaac, is friends with Stiles’ roommate, Scott, and they’ve run into each other a couple times. Not to mention for a whole semester Derek tried to time leaving his dorm to the same time as Stiles just so they could share a sleepy “good-morning” before parting ways for their different classes.

Wondering why he’s sleeping in the hall right outside his door, Derek walks towards him and crouches. Maybe he forgot his keys and Scott is out?

Derek shakes his shoulder gently and whispers “Stiles?”

What he wasn’t prepared for, were Stiles’ reflexes. In particular, his right hand that swung up and out socking Derek in the jaw. Derek fell back and just barely stopped himself from yelping in surprise. It may be a university dorm but even 2am on a Wednesday is a bit too late to be any sort of loud.

“What? What happened?” Stiles blearily sits up looking around a little blindly. His brown hair sticking up in several places and red crease marks across his face from the bag he was using as a makeshift pillow. He notices Derek. “Oh shit dude, sorry! Didn’t meant to...” Stiles trails off looking a bit sheepish.

Derek lets out a sigh and removes his hand from his jaw. “It’s okay, it wasn’t too hard. You mostly took me by surprise.” He stands and brushes his jeans barely catching what Stiles mumbles under his breath but he hears something like “jaw of steal” and “you try hitting hard when you’re abruptly woken”. He stops himself from smiling when Stiles speaks up.

“So uh, not that I’m not unhappy to see you, but why exactly are you waking me up at,” he checks his watch, “2:13 in the morning?”

“Uh…” cause yeah, he was sleeping. Derek probably could’ve just let him be. Whoops. “Well I figured maybe you’d locked yourself out and were waiting for Scott. Just wanted to check that you were okay.” Derek feels his face heating up and curses how easily he blushes. Stiles just grinned.

“Aww thanks man. But alas, it was all for nothing. I have my keys and Scott is in fact home.” At Derek’s quizzical look, because really that brought up more questions than it answered, Stiles continued. “Scott and Kira got engaged tonight, and instead of going back to her place where she lives alone, they came here. Giving me only an hour of warning. And I have a class at 10am so I wanted to be somewhat nearby so I could jump in, shower, grab my things and leave. He said he’d text me when the coast is clear but…” And Stiles just kind of shrugs.

“Ah.” Is Derek’s great response. “And you uh, don’t know anyone else around here that you could’ve asked to house you for the night?”

Stiles shrugs, “Not on such short notice.” They both lapse into silence for a moment. “But what are you doing up and about at 2…” checks his watch again, “17 in the morning?”

“I’ve got an essay due at 9am, ran out of supplies so I was just heading to the store.”

“Nice to know I’m not the only one who leaves them last minute. Though,” Stiles smirks at him, “as a senior you should probably know better.”

Derek huffs out a laugh. “Yeah well, Netflix calls to me you know?” Stiles lets out a loud laugh, probably far too loud for the time of night and where they are. Derek doesn’t really care though, he got Stiles to laugh. He’s never been so glad to leave an assignment last minute.

“That I do.” Stiles looks down briefly and puts his glasses on. “Mind if I join you?”

“Uh, yeah sure if you want.”

Stiles smiles at him and packs the blanket up into his bag as he stands. They begin the walk out of the building in silence.

Once the door closes behind them Derek turns to Stiles “Okay, I gotta know. Where did that blanket come from if you didn’t get much notice about the proposal?” Derek is delighted to watch Stiles turn a bright red, such a stark contrast to his normally pale skin.

“Well, I mean. I kind of carry it around with me?” He ends a little unsure of himself. Derek wasn’t quite expecting that.

“In case of… what? Surprise naps?” The laugh Stiles lets out at that is loud and uninhibited in the silent night. He throws his head back in delight and Derek feels so immensely pleased with himself, he doesn’t know where this new-found confidence has come from, but he’s not going to waste it now. Not when Stiles is smiling, and laughing like Derek has only seen directed at others.

When Stiles stops laughing he turns to Derek with a smile still on his face, “You know that’s not totally wrong.” He lets out a little a chuckle again, hand going up to run through his hair. Derek can see, even in the streetlight his face turning a darker shade of red. “I uh, have a habit of staying up really late and then getting really tired in a lot of places and just, falling asleep. So, my friend, Lydia, suggested that at least if I have the blanket I can be comfortable. I think she was joking and trying to make me, you know, develop a healthier sleeping habit but… well it’s come in handy actually.”

And well, Derek didn’t really expect that. He let out a little laugh and looked back straight ahead. “Well, it was definitely useful tonight.” Is what he gets out just before they enter the convenience store. Derek heads straight towards the chip aisle to find his favourite.

“Ugh Light and Tangy? Seriously dude? There are so many better flavours.” Stiles says from behind him. Derek just turns and raises an eyebrow before grabbing 3 packs. Might as well stock up.

“Don’t call me dude.” Is all he replies, smirking slightly as he moves around Stiles. He might as well grab some more pop tarts while he’s here, he’s going to need something to eat in the morning. He heads up to the counter and turns to see Stiles behind him with one of those “to-go” sandwiches. Stiles looks down at his purchases and lets out a disbelieving sound.

“Okay that is not fair that you eat shit like that and still manage to look as good as you do. What even man!” Stiles looks incredibly put out and Derek can’t help but laugh while he ignores the fluttering in his stomach at Stiles finding him good-looking.

“I don’t always eat like this. But assignments, they bring out the worst in me.” He replies as he grabs Stiles’ sandwich and gives it to the cashier to scan through with his items. The guy behind the counter looks bored out of his mind, and only acknowledges them with a small sleepy nod before stating the amount.

“Hey I could’ve bought that!” Stiles says indignantly from behind him. Derek just shrugs back.

“Consider it an apology for waking you up earlier.”

“Surely I should apologize to you for hitting you in the face.”

Derek can’t stop the stupid grin that comes over his face and ignores the look the cashier is giving them right now. He doesn’t need anybody else’s judgement but his own thank-you very much.

“You don’t hit too hard, it’s fine.” Derek responds and starts walking out of the shop as Stiles lets out a frustrated squawk and follows after him.

“You’re ridiculous.” Stiles huffs, grabbing his sandwich off Derek and munching into it. Derek just smirks but says nothing.

They make their way back to the dorms in silence, only disturbed by the sounds of Stiles eating. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, which Derek was thankful for. He had never been good at making idle chatter, unlike Stiles. So, he hoped that the fact that Stiles wasn’t talking meant he didn’t feel too awkward about it either.

When the building was in sight, Stiles pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed.

“Still nothing from Scott?” Derek asked.

“Nah, and I don’t really want to risk opening the door to check. There are just some things I don’t need to know about Scott McCall.” Stiles replies smiling at Derek. “It’s okay, I’ve slept in worse places.”

Derek frowns at that, but they’re outside his room now. Fidgeting slightly Derek tries to think of a way to prolong their time together. He doesn’t think he’ll ever have this opportunity again, the boy has so many other friends. Derek’s only really got Boyd, Erica and Isaac. Isaac! Derek looks up suddenly and sees Stiles unzipping his bag.

“You know uh,” Derek coughs. “You could always stay with me the night.” Stiles whips his head up to stare at him and Derek feels himself flush. “Not like uh… I mean. Just like you can sleep in my room tonight.” He runs a hand down his face and takes a deep breath. “Isaac is staying at Allison’s tonight so his bed is free if you want to come in and sleep in his bed?” He can’t even look at Stiles, god what kind of word vomit was that?

“Uh… What about your assignment?” Is how Stiles replies, Derek still refuses to look up from his feet.

“I don’t have much to go, was just going to finish it off and then submit it before going to sleep.” He chances a look up then and Stiles is smiling slightly and putting his blanket away.

“Well uh, yeah that would actually be great. I don’t really want to sleep on the floor.” Derek smiles back and moves to unlock the door, trying to remember how messy he’d left the room. When he turns on the light he realizes he shouldn’t have been worried, he forgot Isaac goes through a cleaning frenzy when procrastinating and had only subjected the apartment to it the previous night.

Derek walks to the kitchenette and puts the pop tarts and two of the chip packets away before turning to Stiles. “Do you want a drink?” He asks. Stiles shakes his head.

“Nah I should probably just get to sleep, gotta be up in time to get ready and get to class.”

“Right of course, well that’s Isaac’s bed” Derek gestures to the bed on the left side of the room. “I’ll just finish this off, hope I don’t keep you up.”

Stiles puts his bag down and sits on the bed. “Dude don’t even worry; you’re saving me a day of back cramps and grumpiness. Besides you’re the one with an assignment due, I should probably stop taking up your time.” Derek wants to say he doesn’t mind, but he knows he only has six more hours and if he wants to get this done and get some sleep he should really get to work. So, he just nods and sits at his desk, re-opening his laptop.

He hears Stiles shuffle around a bit to get comfortable but as soon as he gets a couple sentences written he’s back in the zone and completely forgets about Stiles. It isn’t until the time reads 4:12am and he’s pressing the submit button that he tunes back in to the world and hears Stiles’ soft snoring. He smiles slightly too himself before getting up and turning off his desk light, takes off his t-shit and changes into sweatpants before crawling into bed. He’s too tired to do anything else.

 

*** 

 

An alarm goes off what feels like seconds after Derek has shut his eyes. He groans and reaches his arm out to switch it off, only it doesn’t turn off. Instead he hears a muted, “Fuck shit fuck.” And the sound of rustling from Isaac’s bed. Blearily he remembers that Stiles stayed over, and he rolls over and sits up yawning as he goes.

“Sorry dude, I totally didn’t mean to wake you- whoa” Derek looks at Stiles and sees him staring a little open-mouthed. Derek looks down, wondering if maybe he’d drooled over himself, and realizes he’s shirtless. He feels himself blush but he’s too sleepy to really process what’s happening.

“It’s okay” he grunts instead. “Do you need anything or…” he trails off and that seems to get Stiles out of his stupor.

“Oh uh, no. Sorry I should get going. Class and all.” Derek watches as Stiles visibly swallows and feels his heart beat a little faster. “Thanks again for letting me sleep. You got your essay in on time?” Stiles is standing and has his bag in his hands.

“Yeah, got to bed just after 4.”

“Oh shit dude, I’m so sorry for waking you up, I’ll just get out of your hair.” And Stiles moves towards the door and Derek finds he doesn’t want him to leave. He stands quickly and moves towards him.

“Stiles, wait.” Stiles stops and turns, jumping a little at how close Derek is. “I uh, I had a good time last night.”

“Me too, it was fun.” Stiles smiles slightly and Derek sighs and runs a hand through his hair, not missing the way Stiles’ eyes follow or the small sound that escapes. If anything, that’s what gives Derek a little more confidence and he briefly wonders if he would be this forward if he’d gotten more than 4 hours of sleep.

“I’d like to do it again, maybe during the day? Coffee?” He asks, really hoping he’s not misreading any of this.

Stiles starts and looks up at Derek, eyes wide. “Like, a date?”

“Yeah, if that’s okay.” Derek holds his breath, wondering if he should’ve just kept his mouth closed. That is until Stiles smiles at him so blindingly Derek’s a little awestruck.

“Yeah,” Stiles breathes out as if on a sigh. “I’d really like that, I’ll come by after class?”

Derek just nods and ducks down to kiss Stiles on the cheek. “I’ll see you then.” He grins, pulling back as Stiles goes bright red. He laughs to himself as Stiles makes his way out the door whilst trying to keep his eyes on Derek, and almost tripping over his own feet.

As Derek makes his way back to his bed he’s never been so glad for his procrastinating tendencies.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this little piece, I love hearing feedback so let me know what you think. Am toying with expanding it and maybe writing the first date? I dunno.
> 
> Will gladly take prompts at nesselberry.tumblr.com


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